Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned the US and other nations seeking to rekindle the nuclear agreement with Iran to “wake up” following the election of a hardline judge as the country’s president.
Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Bennett said Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would establish a “regime of brutal hangmen,” Reuters reported.
“Raisi’s election is, I would say, the last chance for world powers to wake up before returning to the nuclear agreement, and understand who they are doing business with,” said Bennett, who replaced Benjamin Netanyahu last week after the former prime minister failed to form a new government.
“A regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass-destruction,” Bennett said. “Israel’s position will not change on this.”
Raisi, Iran’s chief jurist who is under US sanctions for human rights violations, pulled in 62 percent of the vote in Saturday’s election that was marked by extremely low turnout — less than half the country’s eligible voters cast a ballot.
Bennett has carried on with Netanyahu’s view that the US should not rejoin the nuclear agreement that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.
The Biden administration has said it wanted to restart negotiations with Iran about returning to the deal the Obama administration brokered with world powers in 2015.
It has begun talks with the countries still participating in the accord — Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.